It has been a while since I sent a newsletter or wrote a blog
There has been a lot going on. I mean a lot!
The last year was busy, challenging, and stressful, but it also weaved with joy.
I know that 2023, for many, was challenging and a year they wanted to rid themselves of.
This spring of 2024 offers a different kind of hope and different kind of feeling and, in turn, a different kind of experience.
TikTok has everyone saying that they are “Standing on Business”.
Those are not my words for 2024.
Mine are “Strictly Business” and “Less is More”.
Let me tell you why.
The last few years have had their challenges, health has, definitely, been something I have had to deal with. I’ve suffered the curse that many women have suffered… working too hard, pushing through, and ignoring at my peril my health at times.
This has definitely had a knock-on effect on my goals, my dreams and, some days, my drive.
I believe in investing in yourself, and at the end of 2022, I started a 6-month programme to take me and my business to the next level. This programme highlighted something that hit me like a tonne of bricks.
“Self-consciousness must be abandoned if I truly believe that what you do is helpful for the people you hope to serve.”
Whoo, Chile, that hit me hard.
You see, my background is in sales, yet so much of my business comes from word of mouth. People sharing their experience of working with me so that others could experience it too.
That has meant that I have been more reactive than proactive. I got real busy, and that meant that my priorities were ensuring that I could fulfil my client commitments. However, working in your business isn’t working on your business, and as a result, some of my goals have been limping along rather than running.
So, this year for me is about reclaiming my sales background… you know why? Because I KNOW that what I do makes a difference, and since I know that and I have enough clients and testimonials to prove it, well, then I have no option but to abandon all self-consciousness and do whatever I can to ensure that I help as many people as possible.
That’s why I restarted this newsletter.
That’s why you’ll find me sharing how you can work with me.
That’s why I will be in touch regularly.
I have a mission to help women in leadership and emerging leadership step into their power and, in turn, help move the dial on gender equality and equity.
So, here’s my promise.
I’ll be showing up at least monthly; you may find I’m here in your inbox bi-weekly.
I will completely understand if you do not wish to be included in these communications. Hit the unsubscribe button at the bottom of the email, and we will remove you from our database.
Here’s why you want to stay connected.
The Compass Club members get first dibs on everything that I do. If you are a Black/Mixed Heritage Professional Woman in leadership or emerging leadership looking for development, growth, and community, then The Compass Club is for you. You can check it out here.
Newsletter subscribers of all races and places are the next in line to receive information on my work, events, products, services, blogs, etc.
This newsletter is about sharing insights, how-to’s and resources. It’s about events and opportunities to build yourself up and grow with a community of women who are moving forward. I usually share here in my newsletter before I share on social media, so you’ll get to know the tea first.
So, yes, I’m back!
With a new name to boot – Magnificently You!
And here’s a bit of news for you if you don’t know already.
The Brilliance Summit is my inaugural conference for women like you – it is an intersectional place where we take inspiration and turn it into action, then take that action and turn it into tangible progression.
It’s going to be fantastic, and you can find out more about it here at The Brilliance Summit.
I have gone out to find talent who can share insights that will make a difference for you. I have chosen those who have and continue to succeed in their careers and in their lives because we are not one-dimensional.
This summit is for all the women in leadership who know that there is more but need to do some work on themselves to make the moves that they must make to live their lives on their own terms.
Here’s why this is so important to me:
The Difference Between Capital and Small C Careers
When working with clients, I often talk about careers with a capital C. You know why?
Well, the problem that we have is that we too often focus on career with a small c.
Your career in your company is a small C career. Don’t get me wrong; progressing in your company is a good thing. The problem is that many of you aren’t progressing in the way that you could or should. Your career is completely in the hands of your boss or your company. You have made your whole career about this company, and, often, you have stayed for way too long.
You have invested so deeply in this company and for so many years that life outside seems untenable. You no longer know your value in the market, and you’re not even 100% sure about your skill set. You are now hoping for that promotion that has been a long time coming.
You are so far down the rabbit hole that you’ve made these people your family. It feels disloyal even to consider leaving; after all, you have a great relationship with Barbara from finance. You know how to get the marketing team to do your bidding, and your boss gets you to write the strategic plan that he presents at the Exco meeting like he wrote it himself.
That small c career has taken up all of your time, effort, and energy, and you are ready to tell me and anyone who will hear it that you have grown up in this company, and so you couldn’t possibly leave.
Yet deep down inside, you know that you have sacrificed your Capital C Career for this organisation. You thought you might be further along by now, but you aren’t. You’re still here. Those dreams are no longer the vibrant colours that you imagined them in when you first started. They are now fading to a light grey where the definition of those long-coveted outcomes are now completely blurred.
For some of you, that long-term relationship that you always hoped to have has been cut away by those late hours and early mornings digging yourself deep into the hard work trench that your boss profits off.
Apart from a few dates on Hinge, not much is going on when it comes to love life. After all, how can it be when you don’t even have the weekends to yourself because… you’re working?
Your Mum has given up asking you about potential grandchildren (not that she needed to keep going on about it like she has; you can make your own choices).
Then, for those of you in relationships, you are either in the ships-in-the-night crew or the “he’s intimidated by my success” posse. It’s exhausting, especially since every time you go on holiday, you get sick because your body is so battered by being on all the time, keeping ailments at bay. Then, by the time you stop, the floodgates of dis-ease open up, and that holiday is no longer a holiday.
Then there is the guilt that you carry because your little ones don’t see you so much, and juggling a career and small people isn’t as easy as everyone implied. If you could just get to spend some more time with them… but how? There’s not much time left after working your evenings and weekends.
It’s not all bad; you live well, but you’re exhausted, and this is not sustainable.
You think that if you take another course and get yet another qualification, you’ll get noticed at work, and then that juicy carrot promotion will be yours…possibly.
Here’s the truth: You don’t need another qualification; you’re already top-tier. You don’t need to hope for your boss, Barry, to see your value. He already knows what your value is, which is exactly why he’s keeping you exactly where you are.
What you need is to change your focus, quantify your offering and value to your marketplace and work out what you really want to do and where you want to do it. It’s time for Capital C focus. It’s time to explore your Career clarity on your terms.
It’s also time to build back up your backbone of steel and align with who you really are. Waiting for everyone else to validate you is keeping you waiting for everyone else to validate you. Lady, you can validate your own self. The problem is you don’t know how. You don’t know how because you have been making your organisation your priority and you have slipped right down to the bottom of your to-do list.
People ask other people why I charge what I charge.
It’s the people I work with they are leaders, and I get results.
I straighten crowns for a living in the best possible way.
You see, it’s time for you to claim back your career with a Capital C—this is your life’s career, not just the one in this company but the one in any company—the company of others or even your own. You become the captain of your Career, yet you leave the rudder free for anyone to grab and determine your direction.
You already have much of what it takes to be at the next level, but you need to understand your blockers so that together, we can push them out of the way so that you can claim your crown.
You can earn more because you are worth it. I’ll help you put the building blocks in place. I’ve helped women increase their comp packages by over £200,000pa. I don’t mean that’s what I’ve done in total; that was just with one of the many women I’ve worked with.
You can have a sense of self-confidence, self-knowing, personal value, and alignment with yourself that will have you wondering who that other woman you were and why she’s stayed around for so long. We’ll give that one a Viking funeral so that she can’t come back again.
The work you do on yourself is the work that gets you results, and you are worthy of it.
I’ll work with you to trigger that strategic brain to work for you first, so that you gain the benefits of you, before anyone else can.
You’ll learn how to pull back on digging that hard work hole so that you can build a smart work mountain that you’ll be able to stand on like the queen you are.
Don’t take my word for it. I’ve testimonials all over my website from women whose lives have changed by working with me.
So, if you are ready to invest in yourself in a way you never have before, get yourself to The Brilliance Summit. If you can’t make that and you are a six-figure earning babe who’s ready to work with an Executive Coach who’s been working with women like you for over 20 years, then apply to become a one-on-one coaching client.
Either way, you’ll benefit if you are ready to move yourself to your next level.
I’m leaving with you a song that represents how you’ll feel when you’ve finished working with me. See you next time!
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